U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he believed there was a handshake between parties in the negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Doha and that the talks were nearing the end.
“I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week, but it has to take place,” he says.
Trump told the far-right Newsmax that if a deal were not struck, 'If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there — a lot of trouble like they have never seen before. They will get it done,” he said.
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Trump said part of the deal was that bodies of hostages would be returned. "Why would they have died. They've lived in tunnels that were three feet high, and in some cases less than that."
He repeated his claim that if he had been president, none of this would have happened.
Trump's leverage on Hamas could be financial, withholding the necessary funding to rebuild Gaza aftr the war. He could also back an Israeli initiative to limit humanitarian aid getting into Gaza which Hamas has coopted and was using to control the population and maintain its governing role.